Phenolic resins (resol & novolac)
Feno Resinas phenol-formaldehyde resins for North American industry. Resol and novolac grades, liquid and solid, for insulation and acoustic binders, foundry, friction, abrasives, laminates, and wood.
Feno Resinas phenol-formaldehyde resins for North American industry. Resol and novolac grades, liquid and solid, for insulation and acoustic binders, foundry, friction, abrasives, laminates, and wood.
Phenolic resins are thermosetting polymers made by condensing phenol with formaldehyde. They cure into a dense, highly crosslinked network with a defining set of properties: high heat resistance, very high char yield, inherent flame resistance with low smoke, strong adhesion to metal, glass, and mineral surfaces, chemical and solvent resistance, and electrical insulation. That combination is why phenolics hold their place in insulation, foundry, friction, and abrasive work where other resins would soften, burn, or fail.
P.A.T. Products supplies Feno Resinas phenolic resins for North American industry. Feno Resinas, a Mexican manufacturer of formaldehyde and resins, makes both families of phenolic resin in liquid and solid forms. We source to your specification, back every grade with documentation, and supply samples to qualify.
Phenolic resins split into two families, and the split decides how you use them.
Resol (single-stage). Made base-catalyzed with excess formaldehyde, a resol is reactive on its own and cures with heat alone. It is supplied as a water-based or solvent liquid. Resols are the binders and adhesives of the phenolic world: insulation and acoustic binders, laminates and paper impregnation, exterior wood bonding, and no-bake foundry systems.
Novolac (two-stage). Made acid-catalyzed with excess phenol, a novolac is a stable thermoplastic that stays un-cured until you add a crosslinker, almost always hexamethylenetetramine, called hexa or hexamine, and apply heat. It is supplied as solid flake, lump, pastille, or powder, sometimes pre-blended with hexa. Novolacs are the binders for friction materials, bonded and coated abrasives, molding compounds, and resin-coated foundry sand.
If you are not sure which family your process calls for, tell us the part you make and how it cures, and we will tell you whether you need a resol or a novolac.
Resols ship as liquids, water-based or solvent, ready to spray, impregnate, or coat, and cure with heat. Novolacs ship as solid flake or powder and cure once hexamine and heat are applied, releasing ammonia during cure, which is why friction and abrasive ovens run specific pressure cycles to avoid porosity. Both cure into an infusible, heat-resistant network with high char yield.
Liquid resols have a defined shelf life and can need cool storage, so we confirm handling and storage with the documentation. Solid novolacs are more stable on the shelf. Tell us the form your line is built around and we will match it.
Phenolic resins serve a broad set of industries. We lead with insulation and foundry, and we supply resol and novolac grades across the rest of the map. Tell us the application and we will match a grade or source it to your specification.
Water-based resol sprayed onto hot glass and mineral fiber, cured in the oven to bond batts, board, and HVAC duct board. The binder gives the product its rigidity and its fire and smoke performance.
Novolac with hexa for shell molding and resin-coated sand, and resols for no-bake, cold-box, and hot-box cores and molds. Precise, smooth castings with fast, oven-free cure options.
The primary binder in brake pads and linings, clutch facings, and railway brake blocks. Novolac and hexa hold the abrasive, fiber, and filler matrix together under heat and shear.
Liquid resol wets the grain and novolac powder with hexa glues it in grinding and cut-off wheels; make-coat and size-coat resins anchor grain to sandpaper, belts, and flap discs.
Impregnating resin for kraft core paper in high-pressure and paper phenolic laminates, decorative panels, and filter-grade papers, pressed and cured into a rigid, water-resistant body.
Resol glue lines for exterior plywood, oriented strand board, and engineered and structural wood, giving the waterproof, weather-durable bond those grades require.
Binder for magnesia-carbon, alumina-carbon, and doloma-carbon brick and monolithics, where high char yield leaves a carbon bond after firing.
Reinforcing resins that stiffen compounds and tackifying resins that add building tack in tires, belts, and hoses.
Hard, chemically resistant, heat-cured films for can, drum, and tank linings and industrial primers, often co-reacted with epoxy.
Impregnates and bonds air, oil, fuel, and HVAC filter papers, curing to a stiff, moisture-resistant, pleatable medium.
Phenolic resins are finding new work in places that reward their char yield and fire performance. These markets are smaller today than insulation and friction.
Hard-carbon battery anodes. Phenolic resin is a leading precursor for the hard carbon used in sodium-ion anodes, because of its high carbon yield and tunable structure, riding the grid-storage build-out.
Carbon-phenolic ablatives. The char layer is the product in rocket nozzles, re-entry heat shields, and motor throats.
Fire-critical composites. Phenolic is chosen for pultruded and prepreg parts in rail interiors, aircraft cabins, and offshore and mining structures where fire, smoke, and toxicity performance matters more than peak strength.
Binder-jet sand printing. Alkaline resol and ester-cured phenolic binders are a primary chemistry for 3D-printed foundry molds and cores.
Formaldehyde is the regulatory driver buyers track most closely. In January 2025 the United States Environmental Protection Agency finalized its risk evaluation for formaldehyde under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and risk-management rulemaking is expected to follow. Formaldehyde is also listed under California Proposition 65, and both phenol and formaldehyde are hazardous monomers with worker-exposure limits.
The practical response is low-free-monomer grades and good documentation. Low-free-phenol and low-free-formaldehyde resins cut curing-oven emissions and are increasingly required by insulation, abrasive, and wood-panel makers. We supply Safety Data Sheets, Technical Data Sheets, and a Certificate of Analysis per lot, and we can speak to free-monomer content, cure emissions, and applicable warnings so you can specify with the full picture.
P.A.T. Products sources Feno Resinas phenolic resins for customers across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, in liquid and solid forms and in both resol and novolac families. Samples are available to qualify a grade, and we arrange shipments sized to your run.
Technical Data Sheets and Safety Data Sheets are available for every grade, and a Certificate of Analysis ships with each lot. If you are qualifying a replacement for a grade you buy now, tell us the type, the form, the cure, and the free-monomer spec, and we can match it. Cross-references to commonly specified grades are available on request.
The difference is in how they are made and how they cure. Resols are made base-catalyzed with excess formaldehyde, are reactive on their own, and cure with heat alone, so they are supplied as water-based or solvent liquids and used as binders and adhesives. Novolacs are made acid-catalyzed with excess phenol, stay stable until you add a crosslinker, almost always hexamethylenetetramine (hexa or hexamine), and are supplied as solid flake or powder. Resols suit insulation binders, laminates, and wood bonding. Novolacs suit friction materials, abrasives, and molding compounds.
Both families and both physical forms. Resols are supplied as water-based and solvent liquids. Novolacs are supplied as solid flake or powder, with or without hexamine pre-blended. Tell us the process and the cure you run, and we will match the form.
Either way. Novolac is a thermoplastic until a crosslinker is added, so some users buy straight novolac and meter their own hexamine, typically 5 to 20 parts per 100 parts of resin depending on the application, while others want it pre-blended. Tell us your loading and your cure schedule and we will supply the grade that fits.
Yes. Low-free-monomer grades that cut residual phenol and formaldehyde are available, and insulation and abrasive makers increasingly require them. Tell us your free-monomer target and your emissions limit, and we will confirm what is available and supply the documentation to verify it.
Yes. Water-based resol binders are sprayed onto hot glass and mineral fiber to bond insulation batts and board, including HVAC duct board. For foundry, novolac is used in shell molding (resin-coated sand) and resols bind no-bake and cold-box cores and molds. Tell us the process and we will match a grade.
Yes. Technical Data Sheets and Safety Data Sheets are available for every grade, a Certificate of Analysis ships with each lot, and we can provide cure, storage, and regulatory documentation on request. Liquid resols have a defined shelf life and may need cool storage, so we will confirm handling with the paperwork. If you are qualifying a replacement for a grade you run now, tell us the type, form, and cure and we can match it.